How can I access web.config from an ASP.NET Custom Control?

Question

Inside my web.config file I've got code like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration>
  <configSections>
    ...
    <section name="UninstallSurveySettings" type="dashboard.UninstallSurveyConfig" />
  </configSections>
  ...
  <UninstallSurveySettings>
    <add key="fileLocation" value="C:\inetpub\wwwroot\output\" />
  </UninstallSurveySettings>
   ...
</configuration>

I need to be able to access this field from my custom control. The control can be dropped into any website and needs to check that site's web.config for the fileLocation value in UninstallSurveySetting.

I've tried a couple different approaches with no luck. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

What have you tried and why didn't it work? This should be no different to accessing configuration from a page or any other part of a ASP.Net application. — Justin
– Justin, Commented Jul 20, 2011 at 15:59
Instead of making your control depend on a configuration section, pass in a configuration object to it - it will make the control more testable as well as less coupled, and make accessing the configuration the responsibility of the calling code. — Oded
– Oded, Commented Jul 20, 2011 at 16:01
Please show some code on how you are trying to access this custom section of the web.config. — Alex Mendez
– Alex Mendez, Commented Jul 20, 2011 at 16:06

abatishchev · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-20 17:12:55Z

3

Much easier to use AppSettings.

Web.config:

<configuration>    
    <appSettings>
        <add key="fileLocation" value="C:\inetpub\wwwroot\output\" />
    </appSettings>    
</configuration>

Code:

string location = System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["fileLocation"];

If your section will become more complex, then:

var section = (NameValueFileSectionHandler)ConfigurationManager.GetSection("UninstallSurveySettings");
if (section != null)
{
    // access section members
}

P.S.

Maybe you want to use ConfigurationSection class instead of handler.

edited Jul 20, 2011 at 17:12

answered Jul 20, 2011 at 16:54

abatishchev

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3 Comments

Dexter Over a year ago

I would prefer to use the section code since I'm actually inputting data into a much bigger web.config file and I don't want to run the chance of conflicting name values. Assuming the section isn't null, how do I access the value of the fileLocation field?

abatishchev Over a year ago

@Dexter: Please post your section implementation.

abatishchev Over a year ago

@Dexter: Do you have any C# code? How do you declare you section in code? Do you inherit from NameValueFileSectionHandler?

Philipp Schmid · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-20 16:33:34Z

0

In ASP.NET MVC 3 the tag cannot be a direct child of (it results in a configuration error).

How about adding your key to the section. Then you can easily access it via the ConfigurationManager.AppSettings collection.

answered Jul 20, 2011 at 16:33

Philipp Schmid

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Comments

Samir Adel · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-20 16:52:27Z

0

using System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager and you will be able to get what you want from the web.config

answered Jul 20, 2011 at 16:52

Samir Adel

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Dexter · Accepted Answer · 2011-08-02 19:04:38Z

0

I was able to solve this by creating a configuration class for it and placing this code in the web.config:

<section name="UninstallSurveyConfig" type="dashboard.UninstallSurveyConfig" />
..

<UninstallSurveyConfig dirFileLocation="C:\inetpub\wwwroot\build\output" webFileLocation="~/output" />

answered Aug 2, 2011 at 19:04

Dexter

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